‘Wadjda,’ Saudi Arabia’s First Female-Directed Film, Opens Doors

RIYADH–None of the glamour usually associated with movie premieres was on display during the Saudi debut of “Wadjda,” the country’s first feature film to be directed by a woman.

There was no red carpet, no photographers and no sparkling champagne. Alcohol is banned in Saudi Arabia. Movie theaters are banned there, too.

Hosted at a foreign embassy in Riyadh on a warm night in early June, the premiere was an understated affair. Local media was not invited to the screening due to fears that early reviews could cause a backlash against the film. The guests, a group of locals and expats, were handpicked by embassy staff and instructed not to tweet about it.

Director Haifaa Al Mansour was in attendance at the German Embassy, which had the chance to premiere the film because it’s a Saudi-German coproduction. She received a standing ovation from the audience when it concluded. The fact that this small diverse audience enjoyed the film was not surprising, as the film has already been well-received when it was shown abroad. Not only audiences enjoyed it, but critics praised it too. The movie went to win honors at the Venice Film Festival and other competitions.

Last September, “Wadjda” became Saudi Arabia’s first submission to the Oscars. In what some American critics called a “surprise omission,” the movie did not make best foreign picture shortlist in the Oscars.

The international success of “Wadjda” shows how a generation of Saudi filmmakers, despite the lack of any resemblance of a movie industry in a restrictive country, have managed to overcome hurdles and produce interesting films that received recognition and acclaim. Fueled by their love for cinema and desire for change, this generation has also been strongly empowered by technology: affordable DSLR cameras that can produce cinema-quality footage, and online distribution channels like YouTube and Vimeo making it easier than ever to share their films with audiences inside and outside the country.

Director Haifaa Al-Mansour on November 12, 2013 in Hollywood, California.

Getty Images

Director Bader Al Humoud describes the current situation of film making in Saudi Arabia as “beautiful and depressing.”

While his short films have received awards at regional festivals and his mockumentaries tackling issues like unemployment have gone viral on the web, he says there has been no response from the government and he does not see any glimmer of hope that they would support the nascent local cinema industry or at least lift the ban on movie theaters.

“Real movie industry will not exist until we have cinema theaters,” he says.

Saudi Arabia had some public and private movie theaters until the late 1970s. Theaters at sports clubs were strictly for men, but there were also theaters in some foreign embassies and the houses of merchant families in Jeddah and Taif that were open to families. The last of these theaters were closed by the government amid a rise of conservatism after a group of religious extremists seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979 to protest what they saw as a rapid liberalization of the Islamic state. The closure of theaters aborted any chances for the birth of a filmmaking industry, and that art space remained dormant for over 30 years save for some rare experiments by people like television director Abdullah Al Mohaisen.

However, the early aughts saw the rise of a new generation of Saudi filmmakers who took advantage of a period of openness following 9/11. The introduction of the internet made it easier for enthusiasts in the country to follow the latest films produced in Hollywood and around the world. On electronic bulletin boards they talked about what they watched and what would it take to produce films locally.

Young directors started film collectives to help each other to make and promote films. As they gained more experience, they began taking their short films to festivals in neighboring, more open countries.

The group Qatif Friends was founded in the Eastern Province of the country in 2003 and made a name for itself with shorts like “Lord, Bring Me Back,” which was shot from the perspective of a dead young man regretting that he lived his life in sin. Talashi, the Arabic word for “fade,” is another collective that was founded in Riyadh in 2009 by nine directors who produced 7 short films that received special recognition by judges when they were shown at the Gulf Film Festival in Dubai later that year.

In October 2012, a group called Red Wax was founded in the southern city of Abha where they began holding underground movie screenings following the model of Secret Cinema, a British organization founded by Fabien Riggall. Red Wax only managed to hold two shows before deciding to cancel their future plans in fear of clashing with religious conservatives who gathered outside a theater in the same city when a short documentary about the region’s folklore was open to public last summer.

Despite the restrictions, young directors have continued to push with more films that received recognition abroad. Sameer Arif’s “Sada” (Echo) about two deaf parents struggle to raise a child won a prize for the best script at the 7th Wahran Arab Film Festival in Algeria last year. The film “Horma” (Sanctity) by female director Ahed Kamel won the best Middle Eastern short prize at Beirut International Film Festival in October 2013. At the same festival, Al Humoud’s “Scrap” was given the special jury prize.

But the government is still not warming to the idea of local cinema, and there have been many recent setbacks. They stopped a competition for short films in the eastern city of Dammam after its first year in 2008. The following year, a film festival organized by media giant Rotana, owned by tycoon Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, was cancelled in the last minute after a conservative campaign against the event.

While many directors remain pessimistic that authorities would change their stance on allowing theaters to open in the country, the wide recognition of Saudi films abroad in recent years has given them a reason to be hopeful.

Haifaa Al Mansour’s “Wadjda” has been nominated for the best foreign film prize at the EE British Academy Film Awards to be held in London on Feb. 16.

Critic Fahad Alestaa says even if Ms. Mansour’s film does not win the award, being nominated is still a remarkable achievement.

“‘Wadjda’ is a landmark in Saudi cinema history,” he said. “This will open the door for others.”

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